So this is a long over-due post that needed postin'! I first laid my eyes on
the new bikes August 20th, 2012, so a month and a half later I'm finally
getting to this.
Most everything that I predicted in a
previous
post came into fruition. The biggest stars of the show were the CVO Softail
Breakout, CVO Road King, and the 110th Anniversay stylized bikes. I was wrong
about the color of the 110th bikes (I guessed platinum and they are actually a
copper color with a nice tank emblem).
First we'll talk about the new CVO Breakout. This bike probably received the
most attention of any bike at the dealer show in Milwaukee this year. It's
built on the Softail chassis and has all the CVO standard amenities such as the
110 CI motor and custom paint/chrome. I posted a
video that gives a walk-around of each
of the colors. Without going into the technical name of each of the colors,
(they are a paragraph long) there are 3 unique colors, red, yellow, and silver.
The yellow one (gold dust and liquid sun) has had the Hard Candy Custom
treatment. This "treatment" basically is a multi-step process that
gives the bike a large, deep, metal flake look to it. It's the same paint
process that we saw introduced on the new
Seventy-Two
back in February. Later we will get more into the "Hard Candy Custom"
empire that Harley built up this year. So the paint on all three bikes is
completely off-the-charts-awesome to be said quite frankly. They also have some
filthy wheels (that only fit on the Breakout BTW) which are another one of the
main signifying characteristics. Another cool feature that I feel is over
looked by some is are the braided cables coming out of the top of the tank to
act as vent ports. They resemble something you'd see coming out of the Dark
Knight Rises, Bain's neck. The stage introduction was quite memorable this year
too, as there was a little
accident!
All-in-all, amazing bike. Definitely a show-stopper from all angles. Too bad
most of us will probably never see one driving down the road. They are very
limited and carry a price tag starting at $26,499. The best part of this bike
was that it bumped off the CVO Convertible which stayed in the CVO line-up for
way too long.
After a several year hiatus the
Road King
was reintroduced into the CVO elitists. Just as I expected it shares the same
bag/rear facia as the CVO Street Glide and Road Glide Custom. It has the Harley
extended bags without the traditional rear fender tail lights but instead the light
strips between the fenders and bags. In those bags we find the oh-so-useful
speakers on the saddlebags lids and iPod pouch that were introduced last year
on the Street Glide. It also has lower leg fairings on the front highway bars.
These were put there, of course, to house the two additional speakers. My
immediate question was, "Without a fairing how do you operate the radio and
iPod?" Everything is operated through two thumb switches on either side of
the handle bars. The controls are very rudimentary. One changes the track up
and down and the other increases and decreases the volume. Oh, and there is no
Radio, who listens to radio nowadays anyways? The King of the Road comes in
three different color schemes one of which is the 110th anniversary edition
(all CVO bikes except the breakout come in an anniversary edition besides the
Breakout which is appealing on its own merits alone). The king rolls on Harley's
large, 19 inch, agitator chrome wheels. The seat is new and unique to the bike
which comes with a matching backrest to boot. The last new innovative feature
on the bike keeps the wind off yer face. The new windshield has a venting
system on the front that can be adjusted to help reduce the buffeting of the
wind. It has a fin inserted into a cut-out in the middle of the windshield that
can be angled up or down to place the wind just right according to rider height
etc. The windshield has undergone a lot of R&D and can also be found in the
P&A catalog. I have yet to test it out but when I do I'll post a review.
Right now, I can say, I'm still undecided if I hate or like the look of it all.
I'm a little sad they did away with the passing lamps and lolli-pop turn
signals. They replaced them with the sleeker looking, handle bar mounted,
bullet turn rignals.
The 105th anniversary color scheme got a lot of criticism and sold very poorly
in California. I personally liked the color even though it did look like a
Duracell battery. This year I can say I like the color, seat, emblem, etc of
the 110th ann. bikes. Harley announced that they will be making far fewer of
the anniversary edition models than in past years. I think this is a smart
move, the bikes fit a very particular taste and not everyone will like them.
Overall it's basically copper and black but the copper has a lot deeper,
darker tone to it. The badge is nicely done (its super high quality and
requires a long process to make, I forget the details). The bikes all have the
2-tone seats that look great and tie in nicely with the rest of the theme. The
derby covers, cam timer cover, and air cleaner covers all have 110th insignias.
The list of models that come in the
anniversary color include: Sportster 1200 Custom, Super Glide Custom, Heritage,
FatBoy Lo, Road King, Electra Glide Ultra Limited, and Tri-Glide. Also you have
the option of 3 of the 4 CVO Bikes. The coloring is completely different on the
CVOs though.
The CVO Road Glide custom is back this year. Harley made two very enticing
upgrades this year. They developed a new LED headlamp for the Road Glide which
is stock on the CVO Road Glide. This head lamp can also be found in the P&A
catalog. Might I add that this light kicks ass and looks amazing. The Harley
LED lights perform great and look even better. The price tag is up there
though. Also the Glider of Roads comes with the saddle bags pre-filled. The
famous lid speakers have been utilized for yet another CVO bagger from the
factory.
Harley is really putting a lot of their developmental eggs in the Hard Candy
Custom basket this year. They have a total of 4 colors under the Hard Candy
Custom umbrella this year, 3 of which are on normal models and 1 that is on the
Breakout. You got Coloma Gold, Lucky Green, and Big Red Flake that we saw
earlier this year. The colors were dispersed around the different models. Some
of the cool, notable combinations are the Black Line in Coloma Gold, and the Deluxe
in Lucky Green. The Sportsters all come in a bunch of different combinations
and the customizable Street Bob comes in all 3, I think. Along with these bike
colors the P&A catalog has a bunch of new, swanky Hard Candy accessories
that are fairly sick. You got some seats, grips, helmets, etc.
The H-D1 house customizable
Sportsters was getting very lonely so Harley
decided to welcome in the Street Bob. There are a lot of very nice, unique
parts to bolt onto your customized Street Bob this year. To catch everyone up
who didn't hear, you can create your own Street Bob online on Harley's website.
You can choose from all sorts of wheels (some really cool red ones BTW), handle
bars, seats, engine finishes, exhaust covers, and the list goes on. The Street
Bob also had some nice overall changes like the center console mounted ignition
(much like the Fat Bob) instead of on the neck of the frame. The engine finish
is all black the way everyone wants but Harley had to tease everyone off and on
for a few years there. Also the tail light that resembled someone's man-hood
was finally removed and you just got the two bullet lights with the brake light
and turn signals integrated into one. If you're looking for a custom Bobber at
a good price there really is no better place or bike in the world than this
Street Bob customizer.
I think that about sums of the most impressive stuff without getting into
the small insignificant details. If anyone has something to add please do so in
the comments. There is a new engine cover set called the Burst collection that
is like that black and chrome contrast kinda like the edge cut stuff. Anyways
its extremely tight and I'm tempted to put it all over my bike. The collection
is available early next year. Thanks for reading and keep riding!
Why ride a bagger with mediocre tunes? Our thoughts exactly! On this rolling stereo, you got the Hog Tunes tweeter pod wrapped around the tachometer. Then Harley-Davidson’s Boom Audio speakers occupy the fairing wings. For the rear range of sound, the saddle bag lids have been utilized to house the H-D Boom Audio Saddlebag Speaker kit. All-in-all – quite the kickin’ system!
Now what is a bagger without the tunes? This rollin’ black hole is equipped with Harley’s Boom Audio and Hog Tunes extra speaker pods. The stereo sounds great might I add. To keep things techie - the iPod interface and mounting hardware is used to keep Apple in our lives. 
The finished product is a wicked lookin’ bagger with red accents throughout. The Black Denim gives it the greaser, 
The Los Angeles Police 77th Street Division convened together to organize a committee to promote the ongoing respect and tribute to officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. This committee was formed in June of 2007 and they have done several things since then to remember these officers. The 77th Street Tribute ride was born and has been held annually for several years now. 
